As we know, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas coastal bend on August 25, 2017, bringing devastating 130 mph winds and heavy rainfall. What’s unique about Harvey is that the storm moved incredibly slow, while maintaining power, and continued to dump rain on portions of Texas and Louisiana for days. By August 31, the Harris County Flood Control District estimated 70 percent of Harris County was flooded by at least 1.5 feet of water. Some areas declared over 40 inches of rain.
On September 7, 2017, Carpet Tech dispatched 13 employees to Houston to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey. The employees came from all of Carpet Tech’s five locations, and stayed in Houston, specifically the Katy area, for 19 days to help with relief efforts. Carpet Tech employees went door to door in neighborhoods in Katy, Texas, asking homeowners if they needed help in the restoration of their homes.
“Being in Houston during this time really put into perspective how thankful I am to work for a company that is in the business of helping people when they are in need. Most homeowners are overwhelmed after a situation like Hurricane Harvey, so being there to help them was a very rewarding feeling,” said Technician Chase Moore.
In order to effectively restore a home to a safe and livable condition, our technicians had to first do a demo tear-out to remove anything in the home that was affected by dangerous flood waters. This included tearing out affected flooring, walls, cabinets, etc. that had been ruined by the water. Basically, a home must be stripped down almost completely. Once the demolition was finished, the technicians set out drying equipment to dry out the home.
The process took a total of two to five days depending on the home. While in Katy, the Carpet Tech team helped to restore the homes of 21 families. All of the Carpet Tech employees that went to Houston volunteered to go down there and work.
Moore continued, “The work we did in Houston was not easy, and it took a lot of time and energy, but seeing technicians from all of our locations work together to get the jobs done was really awesome.”